Come, search names
By Ekta Kumari
Identify, speak, write your names activities
It was a great learning experience to conduct “Come search our names” activity with KGBV,Jamui students. Colours have something magical power with them, power that captures our imagination and take us to a different place. These coloured sticky notes with names of students written on them were flying in the ceilling fan’s air resembling like a beautiful butterfly wings. All the girl students were very excited to see their names on the sticky notes, a girl was talking to her friend “I found it.see my name is there, 5th on the top row on the red sticky note. But, how did these papers got stuck to the wall. Didi didn’t used any gum”
Why to identify names and relate to it is important?
Jamui is a small district, on the southern most side of Bihar, sharing its border with neighbouring state Jharkhand. As per 2011 census, the overall literacy rate in the district was 59.79%, while the female literacy rate was at 47.28%. It has one of the highest early marriages rate in the state.
KGBV, is one of the most important intervention of the government to directly have an impact on lives of girls who come from marginalized socio-economic background. Jamui, has 10 KGBVs across its 10 blocks. Every KGBV has 100 residential girl students, who are from class 6-8th standard. This residential environment provides these girls to come togther and share their ambitions, dreams, fear and if channeled rightly could be a great platform to inculcate sense of confidence in these girls, towards their own potential.
Our identity starts with our name, its not only an arrangement of alphabets, but carries with it meaning we seldom care about. But, as one of our KGBV teachers shared during one of i-Saksham training “My name is Anita, as we are 6 sisters and I am the eldest, so my father started my name with A, and the other sisters followed in similar alphabetical sequence.” One of our team member name is Tanuj, because he is the youngest in family. The other teacher had her name Shabana, because her maternal grandfather was a fan of Shabana Azmi. Someone has her name because of what her parents wanted them to be. So, everyname has a story. This exercise we conducted at KGBV is the first step to identify, whether the girls are able to identify, speak and write their names properly in Hindi and English.
Come Search our names: what we did in this exercise?
Activity 1: Search your Hindi and English names from the sticky notes posted on the wall
We have alltogether 93 girl students in KGBV,Jamui. All these girls were made to seat in different classrooms based on their respective classes. We had sticky notes, with Hindi and English names of the students written on them. These sticky noted were posted on the wall and the board. Students went in a group of 10 to the board and tried to find their names. Once, you find your name, they were asked to take out the sticky note and carry it with them to their respective seating place.
What we observed
19 students couldn’t find their names in Hindi, and 22 students couldn’t find it in English. Class 6th students were facing more problems in identifying their names. One student Vandana, was unable to find her name beacuse we have written her name as Vandana, while she writes it with “B” i.e. Bandana. One other interesting observation was that their was not much difference between the total number of students who didn’t know their names in Hindi and those who didn’t know their names in English.
Class Total no. of students Couldn’t identify names in Hindi Couldn’t identify names in English
6 36 14 14
7 15 2 3
8 42 3 5
Total 93 19 22
Activity 2: Search your friend’s name
All the sticky notes were placed in the middle of the classroom floor. Students went in groups and searched for their friend’s name and gave it to them.
What we observed
Students who were unable to find their names on the sticky notes, were the ones who failed to identify their friend’s name. Some of the students who were unable to find their name in the first activity got it right with this second activity, by seeking support from fellow group members.
Activity 3: Sing with our names
In the next activity students were asked to come in front and speak their names in Hindi, following her would be a girl whose name will start from the last letter of Neelam. If we end up with any letter, with which no names start among the students, teacher will call out a different letter.
What we observed
All the students of class 7 & 8 easily completed this activity. None of the girls had difficulty in speaking their names. However, for the students of class 6, the first round was not easy, as the volunteers were made to repeat the last letter again and again. In the second round this problem didn’t occur.
Activity 4: Write your names in Hindi & English
All the students were given a leaflet divided in two, on which they were asked to write their names in Hindi and English.
What we observed
One interesting observation, was that most of the girls could write their names in Hindi and English. Even the girls who were finding it difficult to identify their names could write it in English and Hindi. However, the number of girls in std. 7 who couldn’t write their names was much more than the number of student who couldn’t do the same in class 6.
Class Total no. of students Couldn’t write names in Hindi Couldn’t write names in English
6 36 3 3
7 15 3 7
8 42 - -
Total 93 6 10
Come search our names activity flow:
Volunteer participated
Ekta Kumari (with Std.8)
Mamta Kumari (with std. 7)
Nikita & Nalini (with std. 6)
By Ekta Kumari
Identify, speak, write your names activities
It was a great learning experience to conduct “Come search our names” activity with KGBV,Jamui students. Colours have something magical power with them, power that captures our imagination and take us to a different place. These coloured sticky notes with names of students written on them were flying in the ceilling fan’s air resembling like a beautiful butterfly wings. All the girl students were very excited to see their names on the sticky notes, a girl was talking to her friend “I found it.see my name is there, 5th on the top row on the red sticky note. But, how did these papers got stuck to the wall. Didi didn’t used any gum”
Why to identify names and relate to it is important?
Jamui is a small district, on the southern most side of Bihar, sharing its border with neighbouring state Jharkhand. As per 2011 census, the overall literacy rate in the district was 59.79%, while the female literacy rate was at 47.28%. It has one of the highest early marriages rate in the state.
KGBV, is one of the most important intervention of the government to directly have an impact on lives of girls who come from marginalized socio-economic background. Jamui, has 10 KGBVs across its 10 blocks. Every KGBV has 100 residential girl students, who are from class 6-8th standard. This residential environment provides these girls to come togther and share their ambitions, dreams, fear and if channeled rightly could be a great platform to inculcate sense of confidence in these girls, towards their own potential.
Our identity starts with our name, its not only an arrangement of alphabets, but carries with it meaning we seldom care about. But, as one of our KGBV teachers shared during one of i-Saksham training “My name is Anita, as we are 6 sisters and I am the eldest, so my father started my name with A, and the other sisters followed in similar alphabetical sequence.” One of our team member name is Tanuj, because he is the youngest in family. The other teacher had her name Shabana, because her maternal grandfather was a fan of Shabana Azmi. Someone has her name because of what her parents wanted them to be. So, everyname has a story. This exercise we conducted at KGBV is the first step to identify, whether the girls are able to identify, speak and write their names properly in Hindi and English.
Come Search our names: what we did in this exercise?
Activity 1: Search your Hindi and English names from the sticky notes posted on the wall
We have alltogether 93 girl students in KGBV,Jamui. All these girls were made to seat in different classrooms based on their respective classes. We had sticky notes, with Hindi and English names of the students written on them. These sticky noted were posted on the wall and the board. Students went in a group of 10 to the board and tried to find their names. Once, you find your name, they were asked to take out the sticky note and carry it with them to their respective seating place.
What we observed
19 students couldn’t find their names in Hindi, and 22 students couldn’t find it in English. Class 6th students were facing more problems in identifying their names. One student Vandana, was unable to find her name beacuse we have written her name as Vandana, while she writes it with “B” i.e. Bandana. One other interesting observation was that their was not much difference between the total number of students who didn’t know their names in Hindi and those who didn’t know their names in English.
Class Total no. of students Couldn’t identify names in Hindi Couldn’t identify names in English
6 36 14 14
7 15 2 3
8 42 3 5
Total 93 19 22
Activity 2: Search your friend’s name
All the sticky notes were placed in the middle of the classroom floor. Students went in groups and searched for their friend’s name and gave it to them.
What we observed
Students who were unable to find their names on the sticky notes, were the ones who failed to identify their friend’s name. Some of the students who were unable to find their name in the first activity got it right with this second activity, by seeking support from fellow group members.
Activity 3: Sing with our names
In the next activity students were asked to come in front and speak their names in Hindi, following her would be a girl whose name will start from the last letter of Neelam. If we end up with any letter, with which no names start among the students, teacher will call out a different letter.
What we observed
All the students of class 7 & 8 easily completed this activity. None of the girls had difficulty in speaking their names. However, for the students of class 6, the first round was not easy, as the volunteers were made to repeat the last letter again and again. In the second round this problem didn’t occur.
Activity 4: Write your names in Hindi & English
All the students were given a leaflet divided in two, on which they were asked to write their names in Hindi and English.
What we observed
One interesting observation, was that most of the girls could write their names in Hindi and English. Even the girls who were finding it difficult to identify their names could write it in English and Hindi. However, the number of girls in std. 7 who couldn’t write their names was much more than the number of student who couldn’t do the same in class 6.
Class Total no. of students Couldn’t write names in Hindi Couldn’t write names in English
6 36 3 3
7 15 3 7
8 42 - -
Total 93 6 10
Come search our names activity flow:
Volunteer participated
Ekta Kumari (with Std.8)
Mamta Kumari (with std. 7)
Nikita & Nalini (with std. 6)
